Thomas Has Missed an Excessive Number of Days of School

Thomas has missed an excessive number of days of school, so he must meet with Principal Davis. Mr. Davis asks him “Why on Earth have you missed so many days?”

Thomas replies “There just isn’t enough time for school. I need 8 hours of sleep a day, which adds up to about 122 days a year. Weekends off is 104 days a year. Summer vacation is about 60 days. If I spend about an hour on each meal, that’s 3 hours a day or 45 days a year. I need at least 2 hours of exercise and relaxation time each day to stay physically and mentally fit, adding another 30 days.

Add all of that up and you get about 361 days. That only leaves 4 days for school.”

The principal knows Thomas is full of it, but can’t figure out why. Where is Thomas going wrong?

But the school isn’t asking him to come in on weekends or during the summer. Think daily, if he needs 8 hours of sleep, 3 hours to eat, and 2 hours of exercise/relaxation, he still has 11 hours left to go to school (7 hours).

First, Thomas is double counting a lot of the days. A lot of the time spent sleeping, eating, and relaxing occurs during weekends and the summer. Weekends also occur during the summer, so all of these hours are getting counted several times.

Secondly, school isn’t an all day thing. So the 4 days actually represents more days of school. If school is 6 hours per day, those four days represents 16 days of school.

KDJstyle, you are exactly correct and the winner!There are two reasons:First, Thomas is double counting a lot of the days. A lot of the time spent sleeping, eating, and relaxing occurs during weekends and the summer. Weekends also occur during the summer, so all of these hours are getting counted several times.Secondly, school isn’t an all day thing. So the 4 days actually represents more days of school. If school is 6 hours per day, those four days represents 16 days of school.